Widger: Being part of something special

I'm glad I decided to come back after taking off for a year. This was worth it. It hasn't totally sunk in yet, really. Just to be around this group of guys and be part of something so special is one of the greatest experiences.

Nobody thought we could win this thing, much less win it so decisively -- winning 11 out of 12 games in the postseason. That just makes it even better.

Looking back, the series in Cleveland at the end of the regular season was when we really pulled everything together. We had clinched, but the Indians were still playing for a playoff spot and manager Ozzie Guillen took a beating in the media because he started most of our reserve guys in the first game of the series.

But we won that game and went on to sweep the series. All of a sudden we played like we had in the beginning of the season again. Everything carried over from that series until now.

I think we were picked to finish fourth in the AL Central by some of the experts. The truth is, we don't have a lot of big-name stars on the team. We have a lot of hard-working guys who fly under the radar and aren't real flashy.

People don't pick a team like ours to win. They pick a team like Boston or New York with all of the superstars. In our division, Minnesota was the defending champion and Cleveland was considered the up-and-coming team.

So it's nice -- not to prove the experts were wrong, but to prove that we were right. This World Series championship validates that general manager Kenny Williams was right and that Ozzie's way of doing things was right.

I use the word misfits -- but not in a bad way -- because we probably had six or seven guys on the team that few other teams wanted. Ozzie saw something in them and knew we would fit in the clubhouse with the guys who were already there. We didn't have any problems off or on the field.

The only problem we had was when Ozzie would say some things that got him in trouble with the media. But that took all of the pressure off us. It's part of the way he manages.

The last time I played in the postseason was 1995, so there have been 10 years between playoff appearances for me. I know how special this is. You don't have a group of guys who play this well together and get along so well together very often. This is the first time it's happened for me.

So I'm trying to take everything in. I know there are going to be things I miss, but hopefully over time it will sink in that the White Sox won the World Series.

Chris Widger, 34, has played parts of nine seasons in the Majors, primarily as a backup catcher, and has a .242 career batting average. Last season, he played for the Camden Riversharks of the Independent Atlantic League.

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.